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    USB Flash Drive v Hard Drive - Power Consumption

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by millermagic, Feb 22, 2008.

  1. millermagic

    millermagic Rockin the pinktop

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    Thanks to the unreliable wireless network here I've come to the realization that I need to use a thumb drive to store my files.

    What I usually do is store my files (notes, homework, etc) on my server in my dorm room.

    That presents a problem because the network drops everyone about every 30 minutes.

    I figured I would go with another USB thumb drive - my last one got stolen out of my laptop.

    Anyway, if I were to take out the hard drive of my T60 and use this to boot off of and save to, would it use that much less energy?
     
    millermagic, Feb 22, 2008
    #1
  2. meekus

    meekus Notebook Consultant

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    FWIW USB flash drives are freaking sloooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow compared to even the slowest of hard drives.
     
    meekus, Feb 22, 2008
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  3. ChristopherAKAO4

    ChristopherAKAO4 Notebook Nut

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    You might look into a U3 flash drive (u3.com). But as said above flash drives are slow compared to a HDD.
     
    ChristopherAKAO4, Feb 22, 2008
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  4. Budding

    Budding Notebook Virtuoso

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    You will be using more power if you use an external drive as your boot disk. The reasons are obvious.
     
    Budding, Feb 22, 2008
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  5. millermagic

    millermagic Rockin the pinktop

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    I understand I would be using more with an external hard drive but I mean a usb flash drive.


    As far as speed goes, I only take notes and browse ebay on the thinkpad - no serious gaming for the thinkpad anymore.
     
    millermagic, Feb 22, 2008
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  6. Budding

    Budding Notebook Virtuoso

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    Given that you have a BIOS or EFI that supports booting an OS from an external drive, if that drive were connected to your machine via USB, the actual boot up time will be much longer. Furthermore, almost every task that requires read/write from/to the disk will become slower. Shutting down/hibernate/sleep times will also increase.

    All these delays would mean that all other components on your PC will have to remain powered on for much longer, which would drain your battery life.
     
    Budding, Feb 22, 2008
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  7. ChristopherAKAO4

    ChristopherAKAO4 Notebook Nut

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    I think that you'd be best off just using your HDD, but having flash drive to back up files on is never a bad idea.
     
    ChristopherAKAO4, Feb 22, 2008
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  8. millermagic

    millermagic Rockin the pinktop

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    My primary purpose for buying it isn't for booting from - I mainly need it to keep files on. Saving to a usb device tends to be a bit easier than trying to do it over an unreliable network.
     
    millermagic, Feb 22, 2008
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  9. powerpack

    powerpack Notebook Prophet

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    But you were the one who mentioned pulling the HDD and booting off USB? Yea get a USB memory stick they cost almost nothing now.
     
    powerpack, Feb 22, 2008
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